How do PCAF data quality scores work?

It is usually shortened to DQ score, and a book gets described as full of DQ 4 and DQ 5. The score is disclosed alongside the emissions total, so a reviewer can see how much of the number rests on estimates.

What do DQ 1 to DQ 5 mean?

PCAF publishes the exact wording per asset class in Part A of the standard, so the ladder below is the general shape rather than the table you score against.

• DQ 1: emissions reported by the counterparty and verified by a third party.
• DQ 2: emissions reported by the counterparty, not verified.
• DQ 3: emissions calculated from the counterparty's own physical activity data, such as energy use or production volume, with published emission factors.
• DQ 4: emissions estimated from the counterparty's economic activity, usually revenue, with sector and region emission factors.
• DQ 5: emissions estimated from sector or regional averages, where even the revenue input is estimated rather than reported.

Why does the definition change by asset class?

Because the best available input changes. For a mortgage the strongest evidence is actual metered energy consumption for the building, so that sits near the top of the mortgage ladder. For a corporate loan the strongest evidence is a verified corporate inventory. Both report on a 1 to 5 scale, and a DQ 2 on one ladder rests on different evidence from a DQ 2 on another. This is why PCAF asks for scores broken down by asset class rather than a single portfolio figure.

What counts as a good portfolio score?

PCAF sets no threshold. The standard asks for the score to be disclosed and for data quality to improve over time, which means the number that gets scrutinised is the direction of travel rather than the level. An institution that discloses a weighted average of 4.1 and shows which exposures moved, and why, is in a stronger position than one that publishes 3.4 with no line level evidence behind it.

How do you move an exposure up the ladder?

Three routes, in order of effort. Check whether the counterparty has already published something, because a DQ 5 exposure with an unread filing behind it is really a DQ 2 or DQ 3. Ask the counterparty for what is missing, which moves a revenue estimate to reported figures. Ask for third-party verification, which is the only step from DQ 2 to DQ 1 and the one least within your control.

The first route costs the counterparty nothing, which is why it is worth exhausting before asking.

Where does DitchCarbon fit?

DitchCarbon provides verified emissions data for over 2 million organisations, so procurement, sustainability and finance teams can measure and act on supply chain and portfolio emissions from one source. For scoring, that means each counterparty figure arrives labelled: whether it was disclosed, whether it carried third-party assurance, and whether it was estimated. Assurance statements are extracted from each disclosure, including the assurance level received and the assurer named, so a DQ 1 can be evidenced rather than assumed.

Where a counterparty has published nothing, the estimate is built from revenue and a sector factor, which is DQ 4 territory. Over 99% of revenue data comes from a tier-one global financial data provider, and the source URL travels with the figure. Coverage gaps are shown rather than hidden, so DQ 5 exposures are visible as a work list instead of disappearing into an average. The full method is published: see how the Scope 3 calculation works.

From there, engagement is the lever: approach the worst scoring exposures with a request that already carries what has been published. Prepopulated requests get higher response rates than a cold survey. See financed emissions and portfolio analysis.

How auditable is a data quality score?

As auditable as the evidence behind each line, which is why what you hand over is audit-ready and verified to ISO 14064-3, limited assurance, by UL Solutions, renewed annually. Every figure carries its source and change history, and the original source document is mirrored so the trail survives a counterparty moving its report. A third-party auditor can sample a line, follow it to the filing it came from, and see the score assigned to it. DitchCarbon is the only specialist Scope 3 tool with third-party assurance of its calculation methodology: the reports are on the trust centre, and the verification benchmark lists every vendor we checked, verified or not.

Related

• What is PCAF?
• What are financed emissions?
• What is the difference between primary and secondary emissions data?
• What is estimated emissions data?

Being asked to improve a lender's or investor's data quality score? Claim your company profile so your published figures are the ones they score. Or see the DQ mix across your own portfolio.

Last reviewed July 2026.